A continuous process for waterless dyeing of textile and plastic materials has been proposed by Hermes in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,047,889 and 4,055,971. The vehicle disclosed is a high boiling glycol or glycol ether.
The use of ethoxylated materials for coloring of objects has been disclosed by Lenz et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,779) and Kressner et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,587).
Hinton, Jr. et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,125, have proposed the use of higher trialkyl trimellitates in laundry compositions to improve soil release properties of synthetic fibers, such as polyesters.
Compositions containing esterified derivatives of a hydrogenated Diels-Alder adduct of linoleic acid and acrylic acid, intended for use in various textile-treating compositions, have been disclosed by Wilson, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,293,305 and 4,394,126, incorporated herein by reference.
Although a variety of solvent systems have been suggested for dyeing of articles in waterless systems, none presently available provides rapid, failure-free dyeings, which are done without producing obnoxious effluents or otherwise being unacceptable from a commercial viewpoint.
It is an object of this invention to provide a composition for waterless immersion coloring of plastic articles, produced by the apparel and other industries. Such articles include, but are not limited to buttons, zippers, garments, carpeting, ribbons, draperies, shoe strings, sewing thread, lace, socks, plastic tubing and pipe, plastic coated wire, ropes, polyester, and polyamide films, toys, and housings for pencils, pens, kitchen utensils and telephones.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for rapid waterless coloring of such articles.